Many people desire to have a “tanned” look, even in the middle of winter. Indeed, many people are advised by their doctors not to expose themselves to significant amounts of sunlight, but want to look tanned.
The tanned look comes generally as a consequence of an excess of melatonin—skin coloring pigment—rising to be near the surface of the skin. In summer time, and in sunny areas, exposure to sunlight, and especially to ultraviolet rays of sunlight, will result in tanning.
Other people will attend tanning salons, where they will expose themselves to excessive amounts of ultraviolet radiation while lying on a so-called “tanning bed”, in order to become tanned.
On the other hand, many persons wishing to obtain a tanned appearance will employ a tanning composition, of which many examples are found in the commercial market. Almost universally, those compositions rely on the presence of dihydroxyacetone, which promotes the migration of melatonin to the skin surface. Unfortunately, many commercially available products have a tendency to leave an orange or yellow color, which is quite unsightly.
Also, most commercially available self-tanning compositions are available as a liquid—usually, a low viscosity liquid—or in a cream or a salve. The use of such materials, however, may result in an uneven application of the active ingredient of the self-tanning composition—dihydroxyacetone—to the skin, and as a consequence there may be a streaked or blotchy appearance.
Moreover, many self-tanning compositions which are currently available in the market have an unpleasant odour.
One product is now available in the market, as noted hereafter, in the form of a towelette which is enclosed in an hermetically sealed package. However, that product tends to be wet; and depending on the amount of skin to be treated, there may be a necessity to open and employ several towelettes from several sealed packages. Still further, the self-tanning composition is saturated in a towelette which has a substantial amount of wood pulp fibre in its composition, for exfoliation purposes. The use of such exfoliating towelettes results in microlaceration of the skin, which effectively is traumatic to the skin because it may cause irritation, cuts and nerve exposure. Also, because of the presence of the wood pulp fibre, the wiping action tends to be uneven, causing uneven deposit of the active ingredients of the self-tanning composition, and thereby once again resulting in streaked and/or blotchy appearance.
The present invention, on the other hand, provides a medium for transporting and transferring a self-tanning composition to the skin, where the medium is infused with the self-tanning composition, and is such that the self-tanning composition will transfer evenly to the skin of the user. To that end, the present invention provides a sheet-like substrate which is infused with a self-tanning composition. That composition is aqueous, and the material of the sheet-like substrate provides a transport medium for carrying the various ingredients of the self-tanning composition whether or not they are soluble in the aqueous medium which is the principal component of the self-tanning composition. Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing the sheeted self-tanning composition application dispensing set which comprises a plurality of sheet-like substrates that are infused with the self-tanning composition, and where a plurality of similar sheet-like substrates which are infused with the self-tanning composition are packaged together in a dispensing enclosure. The method provides a series of steps whereby a more even and more complete distribution of the various ingredients of the self-tanning composition is achieved throughout the physical matrix of the sheet-like substrates, as discussed hereafter.
In one aspect of the present invention, an exfoliant is provided in the composition, in which the exfoliant effects an enzymatic reaction to the surface of the skin so as to form a residue which can be easily washed away by the aqueous composition as it is being applied to the skin.
Of course, as is usual with any self-tanning composition, it is recommended that it be applied only to thoroughly scrubbed skin following a bath or shower, so that no rough patches or excessive dead skin areas exist which may cause an uneven tan.